Let Me Out!

The room was way too bright. She felt like she was in a police interrogation room rather than Dr. Brown's office. What was he babbling about anyway? There wasn't anything else to talk about. It wasn't like people all over the country hadn't known about it anyway. Most of them were just too polite to mention it. She began to think about that day. The day she came back home from being missing for far too long. Reporters coming at her from all sides. Pissed her mother off so bad that she spat at a camera lens.
"Nashlie? I asked you a question." Dr. Brown interrupted her thoughts. "Do you have any plans after you graduate?"
"I'm pretty sure that we cover this every session," Nashlie huffed. Which they did. Nashlie had told Dr. Brown at least ten times that she had been accepted to a lot of universities but she was going to take a year to explore her options as well as other countries. It was her best friend Tyler's idea actually. The idea that they could gather a couple of friends and go to Paris, or Italy, or a couple places in Russia that seemed cool to visit. The only person who didn't think that it was a good idea was her boyfriend Kip. Kip, pretty stubborn like most guys. He was a drummer for a band. His real name, Lawrence Kipper. Lawrence isn't exactly a name that most people associate with hard rock so the band forced him to use a nickname instead. They had decided on Kip. Kip thought that it would be best if Nashlie stayed close to home so that nothing could happen to her. He reminded her constantly that she couldn't run from her problems. So instead, he was pretty much forcing her to think about them and deal with them everyday.
"It's the only thing you seem to talk to me about." Dr. Brown said. The room was silent for a moment then the buzzer rang, letting Nashlie know that time was up. She scooped her purse off the floor and left. Outside, Kip was waiting for her in his car. She slammed the door shut.
"Anyone call?" she asked reaching for her cell phone.
"Just Tyler. I don't see why I am suppose....."
"Because he is my best friend!" she interjected. She dialed the phone and turned toward the window. "Yeah....eight sounds good.....I'm surprised you remembered! Alright I'll see you then."
"What's that all about?" Kip questioned.
"I invited him to dinner like two weeks ago. I forgot all about it. I'm surprised he even remembered." She smiled.
"Oh, I thought we were going to a movie tonight." He slammed his palm on the steering wheel. "It's alright though. I'll see if the guys want to have a late practice or something." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. As they were pulling up to her house he turned toward her. "Have fun at dinner with your boyfriend." he teased. "Give me a call when you get home so I can say goodnight to you." She kissed him and then ran into the house to change.
"Hey dad!" Nashlie called out. There was no answer. "Mom?" Again there was no answer. She walked downstairs and went to the refrigerator. There was a note scribbled on a "Scaletti and Scaletti" post it. NASH, DINNER IN THE MICROWAVE, BE BACK AROUND 9. IF YOU LEAVE CALL FIRST. MOM.
After a while, Nashlie finally called her mom to let her know she was going to dinner with Tyler. "He is picking you up then? I really don't like you driving at night by yourself."
"I know mom, I will have him pick me up." She sighed.
She knew the reason for her mom's concern and her mom and dad had every reason in the world to be concerned about their daughter's safety. There was even a live-in staff so they knew she would never be alone.
At dinner, Tyler pulled out the chair for her and opened her menu. He was always like that with her. But even more so over the past year. "I forgot to mention how handsome you look tonight." she smiled. He had always been handsome, to her. He smiled his almost perfect smile at her. Her eyes fell directly upon his slightly chipped canine tooth. It always gave her the chills to look at it. She was the only one, besides him of course, that knew how that tooth really got chipped.
"Thanks! And you look beautiful as always." he teased.
"Have you decided on a college yet?"
"I don't know if college is something I really want to do. I was thinking about becoming a drummer for a shitty band."
"Yeah, real funny." She said sarcastically. "Kip isn't that bad."
"Isn't that great either." he mumbled.
"What is it about him that you don't like?" she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Can't say that there is too much I DO like about him."
"Forget it, let's just order." She muttered.
"Alright, alright, to answer your question, I am still going on the trip." She looked down at her napkin and things were pretty quiet until their food came. "I still think you should reconsider going. I got some more people to come with us. Len, Paula, Jessie, Nick, Dave, and Shauna are all going so far. They don't get to see you that much, you being home schooled and all."
"I can't, Kip says that's a really busy time for the band."
"Ok....So what does he need you around for then?" She shot a look across the table at him letting him know it was time to change the subject. "Maybe you should just talk to Kip, tell him about what happened. Maybe then he would understand why you need to get away."
"I don't want to talk about it ok? I have had nightmares every single night, when I do sleep that is." her face was getting red and the tears started welling up in her eyes.
"Maybe if you DID talk about it things would get better. Do your parents even know about all of it? Does your doctor?"
"No. Just you, but you were there that day." she sobbed.
They got up and left the restaurant. In the car she began crying hard. "Nash, you have to talk to someone else about it. Sure, I know about it, and I was there. I have been trying to help you through this for a long time now and nothing I say or do seems to be helping, maybe someone else can help you better than I can." The rest of the drive home was quiet. Nashlie went straight to bed when she got home and cried herself to sleep.

"Shut the hell up!" he shouted. Nashlie continued to cry and scream. He lunged at her and slammed his fist across her cheek. Then he turned and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.
"You really shouldn't piss him off." A voice muttered. Nashlie looked over at the girl on the other side of the room. The girl was bloody and bruised. "Switch-blade" the girl said running her fingers along her face. "I had to learn to shut up quickly."
"How long have you been here?" Nashlie whispered.
"There is no sense of time in hell. No concept of night and day. It's always dark in here. My name's Jen." She replied.
"Nashlie."
"This man, this colossal prick, has been getting away with this for too long. As the story goes he tortures girls for 2 months before he kills them, if they don't die before that, that is."
"God, this is messed up! How the hell did we end up in here? What have we done that was so wrong?" Nashlie cried.
"Being young, beautiful, and out at night by ourselves. I guess." Jen sighed.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" Nashlie asked, tugging at the shackle around her ankle.
"In hell." Jen muttered. All the sudden then man burst through the door. He was extremely tall, like six foot eight and huge all over. This man wore green coveralls that smelled like piss and blood. One eye was a deep blue and the other one was white. He had been blind in one eye perhaps. His hands were always dirty and covered in dry blood. Well, sometimes wet blood, but most of the time it was dry.
"Better shut up in here or I'm gonna take out your tongues." he smiled. His teeth were black and some of them were broken and sharp looking. He was holding a cigar in between his fat fingers. He took a puff then walked over to Jen and pressed the hot end against her thigh. She screamed in agony only for a second before pressing her lips together hard. "Good girl, don scream." he laughed. He put the cigar back to his lips, puffed some more, then walked toward Nashlie. The cigar was close to her face, he was going to burn her cheek, but pulled it away and walked out of the room laughing. They both flinched when they heard the click of the lock.
Nashlie looked at Jen to see if she was okay. Jen was flipping the bird at the corner of the room. Nashlie's eyes wandered to the corner, and she became stiff when she noticed there was a camera there. She looked around the room for more but there was only one. One camera, a bucket used as a toilet, and two slabs of concrete that the girls were each shackled to.
"Nashlie!" She heard her mom yelling. She woke up and her mom was standing next to her bed. "You were screaming." She sighed.
"Bad dream that's all." Nashlie combed back her sweaty hair. She went downstairs, looked at the clock it was eleven-ten pm. It was too late to call Kip, he had to work at the garage in the morning. Tyler answered husky-voiced after the third ring.
"You alright Nash?" He questioned.
"Awful dream. Will you come over?"
"It's late Nash.....Give me ten minutes." He sighed.
"I will be in the guesthouse." After she hung up the phone her father put his hand on her shoulder. "CRAP! Dad you scared me!" she exclaimed grabbing at her chest.
"I'll walk you out to the guesthouse." He walked her out, check out all of the rooms, turned on all of the lights, then sat down on the couch. "Not staying." he said when he noticed Nashlie glaring at him. He got back up and as he was walking out the door, Tyler was walking in. Her father patted Tyler on the shoulder as he walked pass.
Tyler sat on the couch next to Nashlie and let her cry on his shoulder. "Nash, you have to tell someone. Maybe it will help." he consoled her. He flipped his phone open and began to dial. "I'm calling Kip." She grabbed the phone and snapped it shut.
"No please don't. I'm not ready to tell him about it."
"What the hell?"
"Sometimes I think that he only dates me out of pity. I am not ready to tell him." she sobbed. He pushed the hair out of her face and shivered when he glanced at the long scar across her forehead. Nashlie quickly swept her bangs over it. It's ugly." she huffed.
"Nahh, you're beautiful." he smiled at her. She put her finger on his chipped tooth. "I'm getting it capped next week." he laughed.
"That's good. It doesn't look bad now though."
"Can I ask you something?" He sat up straight. "Why did we break up?"
"Oh come on Ty I don't want to get into this right now!"
"Well when would be a good time?" his voice was becoming louder as he was getting more upset.
"We are best friends. It's better this way." She stood and began pacing. "We shouldn't have dated in the first place. We're lucky we didn't ruin our friendship."
"It's hard sometimes to look at you and not want to hold you, or kiss you." he joked.
"Keep it up jerk!" she giggled. Nashlie didn't know how to kiss when they dated. She was nervous when he first kissed her and she bit his lip, so after that he had to teach her how. Nashlie turned on the TV and sat down on the couch next to Tyler. She just begun to doze off when she heard "Special bulletin...three young teenagers found dead in Vilking County. Sixteen year old Darcy Mason, sixteen year old Melinda Johnston, and seventeen year old Amanda Stillman were all found together by a jogger in Lincoln Park. All three of the young women were missing for two months before being found dead earlier today. Family members report that the three girls had been going to attend a concert together two months ago and never returned home. This is the first report of it's kind since the death of Benjamin Ward, the 'two month torturer' over a year ago. We will have more as the story unfolds. Please stay tuned to channel eight news."
Nashlie jumped back up and began pacing, holding her head. "No, no, no!" she kept repeating.
"Calm down Nash." Tyler said, not even really calm himself.
"He's going to come for me!" She screamed.
"It's not him Nash! Benjamin Ward is dead!" he grabbed her by the arms. "It's just some sick fuck playing copy-cat."
"They he would know about me, the only survivor!" she argued.
"The copy-cat is never as clever as the original. I'll give it a week before they catch him." Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Nashlie jumped back in terror.
"It's only Kip." Tyler sighed.
"Are you alright babe?" he pushed through Tyler and wrapped his arms around her. "I heard on the radio about fifteen minutes ago. I had to make sure you were alright."
"No I'm not all right! He is going to find me and this time he won't be stupid enough to bury me alive. He'll damn well make sure I'm dead first!" she pushed him away and locked the door. She slid down the wall and began rocking back and forth, hugging her knees. The guys looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to say or do.

"Your time's up sweets." Benjamin breathed heavily in Jen's ear. "I'll even let your little friend watch. Nashlie glared at the duffle bag by the door. Benjamin had brought it in with him and she didn't want to know what was in it.
The first thing he pulled out was a drill. A few seconds later Nashlie could hear the buzzing and then a painful scream. "You asshole!" Jen kept shouting. Nashlie wanted to look but couldn't bring herself to do it. Facing the wall, she covered her ears and closed her eyes tight.
The screaming seemed to last for hours, then all the sudden the room became very quiet. Like another universe entirely. Benjamin snickered as he walked out of the room. He didn't even take Jen's dead body with him. He left it there on purpose, because eventually, Nashlie would have to look at it. Nashlie cried quietly until she fell asleep. When she awoke she forgot for a split second where she was until she saw Jen's body. A small scream slipped past her lips, then she threw up in the bucket. Jen had holes drilled all over her body, cuts, bruises, a broken ankle from trying to get loose. The thing Nashlie remembered most was that her eyes were missing. Not just missing from her body but missing entirely. No where to be found.
Later, Benjamin walked in carrying a jar. "This is what happens!" He yelled. "Look at it bitch!"
he put the jar in Nashlie's face. There were two human eyes staring back at her, they were Jen's. Nashlie wanted to scream but didn't. "She saw something she shouldn't have. Eyes can tell stories. Even when the person is dead, they can tell stories. I couldn't let her tell the story. Her eyes are mine. MINE!" He screamed, his breath hot on Nashlie's face.

Nashlie woke up in the guesthouse. Tyler beside her. "Where is Kip?" Nashlie asked.
"He had to go to work." Tyler walked her into the house and then headed home to get some sleep. Nashlie took a shower, then went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. The newspaper was sitting on the table and the top story was about the killings. Nashlie wasn't in the mood to look at it so she pushed it aside before sitting down. She began to think about the first time she saw Benjamin Ward. He was dead right? She questioned herself. He had to be she saw him, his brains spilling out on the concrete, a stupid smirk plastered on his face, what was left of it. Could he have lived through that? Was he smirking because we all thought he was dead? There was too much going on inside her head so she decided to drive to the garage to visit Kip.
"I'm here to see Lawrence Kipper please." She smiled at the man behind the desk.
"Who?" The man squinted at her.
"Lawrence Kipper...Kip." She repeated.
"Oh right, he's under right now. Do you want to leave a message for him or something?" the man asked.
"No that's okay. I'll just stop back round lunch time." she smiled.
"Eleven forty. That's lunch." Nashlie left the garage and went to her parents' office. The receptionist talked her ear off for a while before letting her back into her mom's office. The door read Cathy Scaletti she didn't bother knocking she walked right in.
"Please come in!" Her mother joked. Her face then became serious. "I take it you heard about those girls."
"Yeah. It's like my nightmares are coming true....again." She began crying.
"It will be alright dear. We are going to make sure that someone is with you at all times. We hired extra help so that you will be well taken care of. We worry about you too you know."
"I know. I just need someone to tal...."
"Sorry ma'am but there is a Perry Jenson here to see you." The intercom said. Cathy turned to Nashlie with an apologizing look. Nashlie stood up and left. Even though there were people all around her she always felt alone. Her parents were always busy, Kip was always working or practicing. The only one she could count on was Tyler but he was at home sleeping off the night before. She decided to go back to the garage and wait until lunch time. After an hour of sitting in the car, Nashlie finally caught a glimpse of Kip. Kip noticed the car and walked over.
"Hey Hun. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Want to go get some lunch?" she smiled. He got in the passenger seat and they went up the road to Kip's favorite little diner. "You must be exhausted," she said as they sat down.
"I slept for a little bit but yeah I'm still tired. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"Just trying to get a grasp on all of this," she sighed. The waitress came over and took their order. After she returned with the drinks they went back to conversation. Nashlie told him that she needed someone to talk to. Kip said that they would have to talk about it the next day since he had to go back to work, then he had to go get some sleep before they went to the bar to perform later that night. She smiled in her understanding way. After lunch, Nashlie dropped Kip back off at work and went home.
Later, Tyler called and asked if he could come over. When he arrived he was nervous, pacing the front room. "What is it?" Nashlie asked.
"They found more bodies. I didn't want to say anything, but you would have found out anyway. Two more girls, both missing for about 2 months. This time they were in Hamilton County."

Kip played really well. The lead singer could have done a lot better but overall they weren't that bad. After the set, Kip introduced Nashlie to the other band mates and some other people that they knew at the bar. After an hour or so of talking to everyone Kip decided that it was time to go home. What he really wanted was some alone time with Nashlie. "I'm surprised you showed up." He smiled. "Usually your parents don't want you to drive after dark."
"Well, dad followed me here actually. He insists that you follow me home too." She laughed.
"I can arrange that. So what did you need to talk to me about?" he took her by the hand and they began to walk down the street.
"I want to tell you what happened to me. Everything." She said nervously. Kip turned around and began walking them back toward the bar. "Wait. What are you doing?" she asked.
"Get in the car." He said opening her door. She got in and he got in the passenger seat. "My car can chill here for a while. Let's go to my place." he smiled. As soon as they walked in the door of his little apartment he said "ok now tell me"
"Can we sit or something? Turn on a light maybe?"
"Oh right." He laughed. He turned on a light and then moved his magazines off the couch so she could sit down. He sat down next to her and she began.
"Well, I was on the cross-country team so I would take jogs in the evening. I was jogging down at Jenkin's Memorial Park, you know where that is right? Well anyway, one minute I was jogging, the next minute I wake up with a shackle on my ankle and a bump on my head. I was screaming, and crying, and then a man walked in. No, not a man, more like a beast. A huge beast walked in and told me to shut up, punched me in the mouth. I looked around this stank room that he stuck me in. There was another girl in there. Her name was Jen. She told me about how this man, Benjamin tortured girls for two months then killed them. She became the light in this dark, dank room. There was a camera in there. He watched our every move. Listened to our every word. He heard Jen tell me about him he came in and burned her with a cigar. Tried to burn my face but for some reason he didn't. He killed her in front of me. He drilled holes in her body, then he took out her eyes. He showed them to me. Said that eyes tell stories and he didn't want her eyes talking that they were his. After she died he left the body in there with me until I became sick. Then it started to get worse. He raped me. Then he cut up my legs with a switch blade. He told me that he was going to break every bone in my body if I made so much as a peep. I had a dream about Jen, and started crying so he broke my wrist. Then I guess my two months came so he raped me again. Then he hit me over the face with a brick and broke my nose. Again, he hit me with the brick and busted my head open. He must have thought I was dead, or maybe he knew I was alive. He took me back to Jenkin's Park and buried me there." She was crying heavily, and couldn't finish.
"I'm so sorry that all of that happened to you." He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Tyler was there that night. In the park. He saw Benjamin with my body. A fight broke out and that is how Tyler's tooth got chipped. That is how Benjamin died. He tripped over his own shovel and Tyler beat him to death with it." she sobbed. "He called the police, then started to dig me up."
"You are so lucky that you lived through all of that. That there was someone there that night."
"I just want to go home now." Kip kept his word and followed her home. Made sure that she was in the house before he pulled away. She was worn out from all of the crying and went straight to bed after saying goodnight to her parents.

A week later there was another broadcast, another teenage girl found dead. This time is was in Nashlie's home county of Green. He was hitting too close to home for Nashlie to keep her calm. There was something telling her that there was more to Benjamin Ward that she didn't know about. After hours of reading newspaper clippings and obituaries on the internet she finally came across another kind of website. One that sickened her. It was a fan site dedicated to the memory of Benjamin Ward. It had photos of all his victims with the word SLUT in red across all of their foreheads. Then there was a picture of Nashlie with the word KILLER across her forehead. The page went on to tell about all of his killings commending him for each and explaining how each girl deserved what they got. Then there was the story about the soul survivor of his attacks. How she was a killer she needed to pay for what she did to the criminal mastermind. She looked for a name of the person that wrote it but she couldn't find one. There was a button that read BIO. She clicked on it and it told how Benjamin lived until he was forty-nine and all of the crimes he committed in his forty-nine years of existence. That he had a wife once they divorced many years ago she left him and took their son. "SON?!?!" She exclaimed. "He had a son!" She quickly dialed Tyler's number. "He had a son!" She screamed when he picked up.
"What?"
"Benjamin Ward. He has a son." She slowed down.
"And how come no one knows this?" Tyler questioned.
"He had a wife too. She left when their son was two and took him with her." That would make him about twenty-one, twenty-two."
"How do you know all of this?"
"There is this really disgusting fan site on the internet about him." Nashlie gave him the web address so that he would look at it. "Do you think that his son could have made this site?" She asked.
"It's possible. Why don't you call Sheriff Larson and have him look into it."
"Alright, I'm going to call him right now." Nashlie hung up and immediately dialed Larson's number. He told her that he would have someone look into it and see if they can find out who put the website up but it would take a while. He thanked her for the information. That was pretty much all Nashlie could do at that point was wait and see what would turn up. If they could find Benjamin's missing son and question him about the murders.
Later that evening Nashlie was watching TV when there was a knock at the door. "Miss, there is a Tyler here to see you," Johnathan, one of the live-ins told her. Nashlie told him it was okay to let him in.
"So.." Tyler started as he took a seat next to her. "You and Kip broke up? How come you never told me?"
"We didn't break up did someone tell you that we did?" She started to get upset.
"No. I....never mind." he sighed.
"If you know something you better tell me."
"I saw him with some chick in front of Lonely Tavern. Making out." Nashlie motioned for him to come with her and they got in her car. Within minutes they were parked outside of the tavern. "Listen Nash, don't do this to yourself."
She slammed the car door shut and walked inside the tavern. Kip was sitting at a table with another girl. "Hey, you guys playing tonight?" She asked cheerfully. His smile turned into a glare.
"Nash, I thought you weren't coming," he muttered.
"I guess you thought wrong," she stormed out of the bar. Kip ran after her.
"Let me explain," Kip said grabbing her arm.
"You don't need to tell me anything. I don't want to hear. Just leave me alone." She smacked him across the face then sped away. "I can't believe that asshole."
"Calm down Nash." Tyler said. "He was a loser anyway."
They drove down to the old water towers and climbed on the hood of the car where they lay looking at the stars. "See this is nice." Tyler laughed.
"Yeah. It calms me down at times. I can't believe that he tried to play all innocent about it." Nashlie started laughing hysterically. "My god, what did I see in him." Tyler started laughing too.
"Well next week is graduation. After that I am going to be gone for a while." Tyler sighed.
"Oh that's right. We will have to throw a party when you get back."
"You should really think about coming. It's going to be awesome." Nashlie turned on her side and propped her head on her hand. "You should have some time off. Take a break from all this. Murders, working parents, live-in staff, cheating boyfriends."
"I'll think about it." she smiled.

A week later she attended the graduation ceremony then the after-party at Tyler's house. Tyler was busy with the others going over details of their trip. Nashlie stood in the background until they were finished. "You guys will have a great time." She gave him a hug. "I better get home though. I have some stuff to do."

Nashlie woke up in a room she had never seen before. The walls were gray, the paint peeling off the walls. She stood up holding her head. When she tried to walk toward the door she couldn't reach it. Her leg was shackled to a concrete block. "Not again!" She screamed. "WHAT IS GOING ON? LET ME OUT OF HERE!" She looked in the corner and noticed a camera there. "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE LET ME OUT OF HERE!" She screamed at it. A moment later someone dressed in all black with a ski-mask was standing in front of her. As she cowered in the corner, the person pulled out a switch-blade knife and held it to her throat.
"Scream again and I'll kill you." It was a man's voice. The man slapped her in the face then walked toward the door. "You don't want to die before I bring you a gift do you?" He slammed the door shut. It felt like a year had passed before he came back in dragging something behind him. He put someone's ankle in another shackle then removed the pillowcase from his head.
"No not him. Please not him." Nashlie said crying. "Tyler, Tyler wake up." She yelled.
"Shut up bitch or I kill you both right now!" The man smacked her against the wall. He laughed then walked out of the room. Locking the door behind him. Nashlie cried silently, praying for Tyler to wake up.
Finally he came to. He was holding his head and looking around the room hazy eyed. "Nashlie, are you ok?" he whispered.
"I'm fine. Why you, why did he have to bring you here?" she sobbed. "I'm so sorry I'm so sorry for all of this." Tyler reached out and touched her fingertips.
"The last thing I remember. I was cleaning up the yard after the party." He groaned. He looked down at his ankle and tried prying the shackle but he wasn't accomplishing anything. The man came back in the room carrying his switch-blade. He walked over to Tyler and started slashing at his chest.
"STOP PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM. IT'S ME! IT'S ME YOU'RE AFTER," Nashlie screamed. He turned to look at her. "Are you him?" she mumbled. "Are you Benjamin's son?"
"What would you know about that, cunt?" He tried to slice at her face but missed and hit the tip of her ear cutting a small piece off. The blood came gushing like it was worse than what it was.
She screamed. The man backed away, almost as if he was scared, then left the room. Locking the door behind him.
"Nash, how bad is it?" Tyler questioned. "You'll be okay." His chest was covered in blood. "Don't look. They look worse than they are." Nashlie scooted as close as she could to him but still couldn't reach him. After he scooted toward her they were able to hold hands.
"We're going to die." She muttered. "We are dead, this is hell."
"Stop. We aren't going to die." he whispered. He, himself, didn't believe it. After a couple hours the man came back in the room. Tyler was awake waiting for him but Nashlie had fallen asleep. The man walked over to her and started running his fingers through her hair. "Don't touch her." Tyler said. The man kept doing it, not paying attention to Tyler. The man looked at her ear and touched it gently. Nashlie moaned in agony. Then opened her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She screamed sitting straight up. The man shushed her and continued playing with her hair then started caressing her face.
"Stop touching her!" Tyler screamed. The man snickered. Then he started moving his hands toward her breasts. Nashlie started to shake with fear. His hand moved up her shirt. He was rubbing his own crotch while squeezing her breast. "I'm going to kill you asshole! Just like I killed your father!"
The man stopped immediately and stormed over to Tyler. The man stood him up and started choking him. Nashlie didn't know what to do. She started screaming and trying to grab things to throw at him. "Why did you stop?" She finally said. The man turned to look at her. "I liked it. Why did you stop?" He let go of Tyler and let him drop to the floor. The man undid his pants and had his way with her then left the room. She wiped the tears away and reached for Tyler's hand. She shook it until he woke up. "Oh thank god." she sighed. "I thought he killed you." All of a sudden there was a loud noise. "What the hell is that?"
"A motorcycle." Tyler muttered. "He went somewhere."
"We have to find a way out of here." She sobbed. She began clawing at the shackle and going crazy. She finally got too worked up and had to sit down and catch her breath. Tyler stood up and pissed in the corner. "Oh my god Tyler."
"Sorry I had to go." He laughed.
"No. Look." She pointed to his ankle. The bolt had come free from the concrete. "Don't do anything stupid. This could be a trick." She said. He ran over to her and tried to help her get free but there was no way to get her out of the shackle. "You have to get out of here. Before he comes back. Go get help." Tyler nodded and went to the door. It was locked. He kicked it about five times before it finally opened.
"I'm going to get help." He said. A little while later the man came back into the room. He looked around for a second then tried running out the door. He was slammed onto the ground. Immediately Tyler was on top of him choking him. "I told you I was going to kill you. You bastard!" He screamed. Nashlie watched in horror as the two men rolled around on the floor. She saw the switch-blade slide across the floor. At this time the man was on top of Tyler punching at his face. Nashlie stabbed him in the back.
"God damn it Nashlie!" The man yelled. Tyler ripped of his ski-mask and dropped his jaw.
"Kip?" Nashlie cried. "What the fuck?"
"My name is Benny." He laughed. "Benjamin Ward.....Junior." He lunged at her and the knife caught him in the throat. He fell to the floor holding his neck. While he was immobilized, Tyler undid her shackle and they ran out of the building. Nashlie fell to the ground screaming and crying.
"Come on Nash get up we have to go get some help."
"I killed him! I don't understand this!" Tyler helped her to her feet. They walked into a restaurant the waitress didn't waste one second calling the police. When the police arrived Tyler did most of the talking. They were both taken to the hospital to get bandaged up.

After all that they had been through, Nashlie couldn't bring herself to talk to Tyler. There had been too much that happened and she felt that it was her fault. Two weeks had passed since their return home. "Nashlie." Her dad woke her. "Tyler is on the phone. I think you should talk to him. He's worried about you."
"I don't feel like talking." She muttered. A tear fell on to her pillow. "Please tell him to stop calling." Her father left the room. Twenty minutes later her mother came in to make sure she was ok. She sat down on the bed and kissed Nashlie's forehead. Nashlie buried her head in the pillow. All she wanted was to be left alone. Her mother got up and walked out of the room. A moment later she felt a hand on her head. "Please mom go aw....Tyler!" she exclaimed. She sat straight up. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to say goodbye."
"Goodbye. Have fun in Paris." She put her face down in the pillow.
"I also came to tell you something else." he said in a serious tone. She looked up at him.
"If it has anything to do with Benja...." he kissed her softly.
"I love you. I came to tell you that I'm in love with you. I know you think this is all your fault but it's not. There are just too many sick people in this world. You never asked for any of this. You did something utterly stupid just to save my life. I know you thought I didn't know but I did. I tried to scream at you to stop that I was better off dead than seeing what he did to you. The words wouldn't come out then I blacked out, and I'm sorry for that." A tear ran down his cheek. "I know you don't want to talk to me so I'll go. I just wanted to say goodbye. I love you."
"You always have." She smiled. He nodded and walked out of the room.

The next day Tyler boarded his plane. He was hoping that Nashlie would come to her senses and call but she hadn't. He put his carry-on in the overhead compartment and sat down. He looked out the window hoping that she would be out there flagging down the plane or something but she wasn't. He tried calling right before take-off but no one answered. He sighed and slid down in the seat. "Yo, dude this is going to kick-ass!" Len said as he sat down next to Tyler.
"Rock on!" Tyler faked a cheerful attitude. After a long flight they were finally in Paris. Tyler and Len checked into their hotel room and decided to rest for a while before sight-seeing. Just as Tyler was drifting to sleep he received a text message from Nashlie. SEE YOU SOON. He kissed his phone and fell asleep. A couple hours later Len suggested that they go to an art museum. "Since when have you been into art?" he laughed as they walked into the building.
"Just look at this place. Have you ever seen anything that beautiful before?" He pointed across the room. A crowd of people dispersed and Nashlie was standing there. Len started laughing when Tyler's jaw dropped. Tyler ran over to her and picked her up in a hug.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered.
"Isn't this the perfect place for two people to go when they are in love?" she grabbed his face and kissed him.